Chins get the wins
First Grade
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If any person in the world was shown a league game and then a union game without any prior knowledge of the sports 100% of people would say league is the better sport with FAR better athletes.
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If any person in the world was shown a league game and then a union game without any prior knowledge of the sports 100% of people would say league is the better sport with FAR better athletes.
Would they work out that it’s even a sport?
Cult
Well, who wouldn’t want to own a ‘Rugby team’?
Concerns? What concerns? Why your NRL club will want to be in Vegas in 2025
By Christian Nicolussi
January 27, 2024 — 4.00pm
The concerns surrounding the NRL’s inaugural Las Vegas double-header will not be enough to scare away other clubs from wanting to be involved in next year’s game.
So says ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys who maintained a crowd of more than 40,000 was expected at Allegiant Stadium for the landmark matches.
V’landys said the governing body also hopes to generate about $15 million to $25 million in revenue from subscriptions of the Watch NRL app in America – particularly targeting the hundreds of thousands of Australian expats living in the US.
V’landys and NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo hosted a crisis meeting with officials from South Sydney, the Sydney Roosters, Brisbane and Manly on Thursday to address a range of issues, including visas and compensation for the cost of training camps, which clubs claim could amount to more than $400,000 each.
Only Manly have made it publicly known they want to be a permanent part of the Las Vegas venture, but V’landys is confident there will be no shortage of clubs keen to participate next year.
Panthers group chief executive Brian Fletcher stood on stage during grand final celebrations last year and declared the premiers would be in Vegas in 2025. He said this week that remained the plan, despite the logistical problems associated with the March 2 season opener.
“I have no doubt all the clubs will be wanting to go to Vegas next year – a lot of them applied to go this year,” V’landys said.
“When you’re trying to procure growth, there will be risk. However, the greater the risk, the greater the reward.
“Out of all the initiatives we’ve put forward, Vegas has been the one that has been talked about the most – and it’s also the one that has the most potential.
“The reward at the end of it if we do it right, we’re talking millions of dollars.
“Like anything, there will be teething problems. And there have been. But the beauty with this is we will learn a lot this time, and we’ll do it a lot better the second time around.”
The Panthers were one of the few clubs who did not want to be a part of the first Vegas game, but only because they wanted to spend as much time at home this year before moving their games to Parramatta in 2025 while their stadium is rebuilt.
“We’d still like to go to Vegas in 2025, but we’d like to go as the away team,” Fletcher said.
“For the first time in 2025 we’re likely to have a Magic Round game as a home game, but we don’t want to take any more than nine games away from our members.
“If we go as the away team to Vegas, they’ll have sorted everything out from what [they learnt] the first time. None of the clubs will lose this time around, which is good.”
Fletcher added the World Club Challenge was already profitable for the premiers after they agreed to take a percentage on the gate rather than a flat fee. The game against Wigan at the DW Stadium is already sold out.
About 22,000 tickets have been sold for the Vegas games, and V’landys is confident of a much bigger attendance.
“We’re confident we’ll get to at least 40,000 – there will be a lot of walk-ups,” he said. “We haven’t even started promoting in America. We have built up a library of ads that will start to go out over there next week.
“One of the massive growth areas for us will be wagering.
“But where we will get the majority of revenue will be people subscribing to the app in America. There are 300,000 Australians in America, and even if 150,000 of them were NRL fans, we can generate another $15 million to $25 million from them buying the Watch NRL app.”
The NRL has approached political heavy hitters Kevin Rudd and Joe Hockey to help them navigate through any visa issues for players who had been involved in legal matters at home.
Thursday’s meeting with V’landys and the clubs also led to the NRL paying $700,000, or $175,000 for each club, to offset expenses linked to their training camps in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Diego. The clubs stressed they needed an extra week to have the players mentally and physically at their best to perform on a different time zone.
Another unforeseen headache was Manly finding out the hotel they are staying at, Resorts World, did not have enough rooms for them the first couple of nights they are due in town.
I just loved reading that article
I especially like this bit: "We’re confident we’ll get to at least 40,000 – there will be a lot of walk-ups,” he said. “We haven’t even started promoting in America. We have built up a library of ads that will start to go out over there next week."
Alot of positives, I just love love love love ittttt
NRL America app..
Cannot wait to see the ads either, I hope so many Americans see these ads and go WTF is this sport? Makes NFL look like a pussy sportNRL America app..
I don't know why people are hung up on this. Especially when you have a huge celebrity promoting one of our clubs. Its a market that doesn't know anything about the history of the games. If you start ranting about league/union they'll just give you a funny look and walk away. Hook them in and they can figure it out from there.
Have to admit I was hung up on the ‘rugby’ naming issue but that’s an interesting perspective
$15m to $25m from Aussie living in the US? So, all 150,000 who prefer RL (to AFL) are going to get the app? Wouldn’t those people already have the app if they live in USA, love NRL and it is the only way to watch?
100% this!!
